Heretofore, as a method of transferring an image, comprising developing an electrostatic latent image on a light-sensitive member with a liquid developer and transferring the above developed image to a member with which the image is to be transferred, such as a transferring paper, the following have been known. One of the methods is a method in which an electrostatic latent image on an image-carrying member is developed with a liquid developer, and then the developed image is superposed on a member to which the image is to be transferred, while a sufficient amount of a carrier liquid remains, and is transferred to the member by corona transferring or bias roller transferring. In this method, however, the carrier liquid present between the member to which the image is to be transferred and the image-carrying member sometimes flows, thereby producing a flow in transferred image. Another method is the method wherein transferring is carried out by bringing a toner image-carrying member in direct contact with a member to which the image is to be transferred, by the use of a roller. In this method, however, the carrier liquid on the image-carrying member sometimes flows at the time of contacting, thereby disturbing the image on the image-carrying member or causing a flow in transferred image.
In order to overcome the above problems, JP-B-46-1799 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication") discloses a method in which two transferring rollers are provided, and a reverse bias relative to that applied to the second roller is applied to the first roller. In accordance with this method, a disturbance in transferred image can be prevented to a certain extent bu not sufficiently. JP-B-51-44654 discloses a method in which, after development, the thickness of a carrier liquid on an image-carrying member is controlled to 5 to 30 .mu.m by corona discharging and, thereafter, transferring is conducted. This method overcomes the problems of the above method by placing a necessary and sufficient amount for wet-type transferring of a carrier liquid between an image-carrying member and a member to which the image is to be transferred, and increases a transferring efficiency and decreases unnecessary permeation of the liquid into the member to which the image is to be transferred.
In accordance with this method, the flow in transferred image due to excessive carrier liquid present at the time of transferring may be prevented to a certain extent by controlling the liquid thickness. This method, however, has a disadvantage that the image on the image-carrying member is disturbed by corona discharging to be applied for controlling of liquid thickness. JP-B-62-49619 discloses a method in which a resin solution is placed between an image-carrying member and transferring sheet to thereby uniformly control the attached amount in transferring. In this method, however, prevention of flow in image at the time of transferring is not sufficiently improved. Moreover, this method has problems in that when a member to which an image is to be transferred, which has been obtained by the method, is used as printing plate, dissolved resin is liable to attach to the printing plate, thereby causing contamination of the background.